Improvement in making shoe-nails



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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. PHELPS DAVIS, OF MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAKING SHOE-NAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,854, dated November 1, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J. PnELPs Davis, of Middletown, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement'in Shoe-Nails; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure lis aside view of a shoe-nail con structed according to my improved plan. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same exhibiting the transverse form otl the nail. Fie. 3 is an illustration of the manner in which the nails are molded or east.

Similar letters of refertnce indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to a shoe-nail formed in such manner and by such a process as to possess the following advantages: First, they are more durable than nails of this character' as hithertoconstructed5 secondly, they are not liable to undergo any chemical action which might have a deleterious effect upon the leather; thirdly, they may be driven with the greatest facility.

In order that others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may be e1labled to fully understand and use the same, I will proceed to describe it.

I construct shoe-nails ot iron by casting in a sand-mold and cast the heads of the nails upon a chill for the purpose 0f hardening' them, so that they shall be better adapted to undergo the rough usage to which they are necessarily subjected. I make the nails in a tivo part liask, the patterns for the nails being attached to a plate by the head thereof. This plate is laid down in the bottom of the flask with the nail pattern projecting upward. The sand is then sifted in and rammed into place and the flask cleaned oft level with the points, the iiask being of a proper height to facilitate such an operation. The parting sand is then put on and apattern, corresponding with the plate B, Fig. 3, is then laid upon the points of 'the nailpatterns. Another part of the iiask being pnt on, the sand is rammed down upon it and the mold properly gated to allow the metal to be poured in. The mold is then separated andthe pattern taken out, which operation may be performed by molders with facility. The place of the plate to which the patterns for the nails are attached is thus supplied by a chill. The mold is put to gether and the metal being poured in, the nails A are formed with the plate B, as represented. The nails thus formed may be disconnected from the plate B either by the tin gers or a stiff wire brush, or by giving the said plate a brisk tap on the end with a hammer. Nails made in this manner are exceedingly hard at the head, where they are subject to friction against the hard substances of which sidewalks are composed. Hence, they are much better adapted to perform their function than shoenails, which are made of an equal degree of hardness throughout, as are the common wrought-iron nails generally used for the purpose, which my improved nails are intended to serve.

I have found that the peculiar inequalities or slight irregularities in the surface of the nails, resulting from the casting, serve to give the nail a more secure hold when driven into the leather. Their form obviates the necessity ot' employing an awl previously to driving them through. This, of course, is optional with the user. After the nails are formed, as above described, I cover them with a coating ot copper or other adlquate material by the galvanic process or otherwise, in order to prevent them from corroding by the action of water and thereby discoloring and impairing the leather. The nails in their transverse section have the form of a diamond and taper in such manner that they may be driven with facility.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

As a new article of manufacture, a shoenail constructed in the manner and by the process herein described.

' J. PIIELPS DAVIS.

Witnesses:

B. F. GHAEEEE, SAMUEL T. OAMI. 

